Happy 2020! I can’t believe that the California Raptor Center is now just 2 years away from turning 50 years old! Stay tuned as we are planning a huge celebration full of festivities!
Speaking of festivities, one of our annual public events is coming up very soon. Biodiversity Museum Day, a campus event will be held again this year on Saturday, Feb. 15 at UC Davis. The CRC will be open that day between 9-1 and our ambassador birds will be on the glove with our volunteers sharing some great information on the species and how we affect their environment.
I want to give a huge shout-out to our educational programs coordinators–Jo Cowen and Lis Fleming for on-site presentations and Julie Cotton for off-site presentations. Lis is in the spotlight this newsletter discussing her many years of volunteer service in education here at the CRC. We are so grateful to her for all she’s done to create presentations for learners of all ages. We are also very grateful and fortunate for a recent small foundation grant to help support Julie’s time in our education programs this year!
Our rehabilitation programs got off to a swift start in January–our first bird in rehabilitation this year was an American Kestrel that I personally got to release last week! Read about that bird here. We thought then it was only fitting to spotlight Apollo, our male American Kestrel, who spends his days sunning at the top of his tree! The American Kestrel Partnership of the Peregrine Fund is an excellent resource to learn more about these amazing small falcons, and of course you can read more about Apollo on our websiteas well.
Read all about the latest happenings at the CRC in this 2020 winter issue of our quarterly newsletter:
In late December, CRC staff were alerted to an American Kestrel trapped in a gymnasium in Woodland. On January 3rd, a Yolo County Animal Services officer arrived with the Woodland kestrel in tow.
Dr. Charlene Lujan-Vega is the recipient of the Catherine Portman Burrowing Owl Research Award for her research regarding atherosclerosis in raptors, including in captive-held burrowing owls.
Apollo was found near intersecting county roads in the vicinity of Woodland. He may have been hit by a car and a caring citizen rescued him and brought him to the CRC on November 11, 2017.
Lis has just hit the 25-year milestone for her volunteer services at the CRC! With a life-long affinity for nature and a love of all creatures great and small, Lis fit right in to the CRC's Education Program.
Thanks to a generous gift from Avangrid Foundation the California Raptor Center is finally able to expand the role of our fantastic Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator, Julie Cotton.
Featuring special presentation "Burrowing Owls: Ecology and Fun Facts and Conservation Failures and What You Can Do" by Catherine Portman, Executive Director of the Burrowing Owl Preservation Society
FLOAT T-shirt Fundraiser - Monday, April 6 through Monday, April 13
